I usually play an agile, defensive 3-ship Imperial squad (Soontir Fel, Turr Phenirr and Whisper), but virtually everyone in our local tournaments (and even so-called "friendly" games) is fielding large turreted ships. The real bugbear is the Decimator; there are going to be at least two in our upcoming tournament, and coupled with the Darth Vader crew upgrade they invariably cripple my fleet before I can inflict significant damage. Quite apart from sucking the fun right out of the game (what's the point in trying to fly well when you can be blown out of the sky wherever you are?), I've only been able to beat it once, using an A-wing/B-wing/X-wing combo. Any advice for someone who prefers to fly Imperial?

fly higher hull ships like firesprays and shuttles...or both!

Made THIS yesterday and i owned a RAC/whisper and Oicunn/soontir in a local tournament. time ran out against han/jake. he was down to two hull on han and i had a shuttle with one shield left.

Vader does shut down squints pretty hard, the hard counter to decimators I think is HLC Brobots . The problem with flying imperials vs Vader is the fact that very few of your ships have shields - Biophysical's dual defender list could be worth looking into.

Rexler ***** deci's with his innate ability. unless youre VERY good at flying them id advice against two defenders. they hate stress and if your meta is like my meta youll see some stress hogs. might i suggest:

Rex+Pred+HLC

oicunn+title+vader+gunner

or

rex+HLC+pred

OGP+FCS+tac+EU

2xacademy (for blocking han and RAC)

if you want to beat a deicmator go: 4x Academy Pilot (12) AND 2 Saber Squad Interceptors with PTL and AT (26)

decimators cant handle groups, so fly them in two separate formations equally and chip chirp until toasty. numbers.. cant evade any damage with no evade dice. stay at range 3, until you can swoop in and decimate the decimator at range 1

basically as above

there is simply no way to outplay a 360, range 1-3 turret so you'll have to chop some squints into tie fighters to bring the dice necessary to bring down a deci

you'll eat an inevitable crit, but cheri costs significantly more than soontir and he'll help you by killing himself

basically as above

there is simply no way to outplay a 360, range 1-3 turret so you'll have to chop some squints into tie fighters to bring the dice necessary to bring down a deci

you'll eat an inevitable crit, but cheri costs significantly more than soontir and he'll help you by killing himself

if you want to fly a space cow with double tactician, to keep chirp from triggering Isard it can help significantly as well.

for 28 points you can fly an OGP with x2 tact and ion cannon for super chirp control.

The Black Squadron Pilot with Calculation is an awesome Decimator hunter.

This squad would absolutely murder a Decimator:

BSP + Calcualtion x 5

Doom Shuttle

= 99 points.

He may kill off a BSP before it gets to fire, but you still have 4 of those suckers and the shuttle. After two rounds he should have multiple crits and be dead in the water. The Doom Shuttle can also ruin the likes of Fel as well. The beauty is you don't have to fly this in formation either. Spread them out to cover all possible lanes. Send one into block as well.

Assuming they are running RAC as the decimator, you could also run this to spread the crits out if you get in range 1 or 2

5 Black Squadron Pilots + Draw Their Fire

"Howlrunner" + Determination

With the last 6 points, add a shield to someone and take a bid, or throw MkII engines on all of them

Soontir and Whisper can handle a decimator just fine. If vader is the big problem, then throw a shield upgrade on Soontir:

Fel w/ PtL, title, autothrusters & shield = 36

Whisper w/ VI, intel agent, FCS & ACD = 40

When both have a shot on the decimator, don't use Push the limit if its got a rebel captive, but make sure you take evade as your action (when Fel takes stress from rebel captive, he gets a free focus). If Fel does not have a shot but Whisper does, do not shoot at the decimator if it has rebel captive unless Whisper can take evade and is at range 3. Because of these 'difficulties' it might be better to kill of the decimator's escort before dealing with it, but ideally, its easier to win if the decimator dies first (not always easy to pull off however).

For your last 24 points, you can take a doom shuttle for now. When the raider comes out you can replace it with a Tempest w/ title + accuracy corrector. 3 points left for hull upgrade (proton rockets is also a possibility, but hard to get off on low PS ships).

I think it just takes practice predicting where the fat turret will end up (because of boost mainly), once you get good at this, it does not stand up long to your firepower (especially Whisper's 4 dice w/ TL).

If you really want to troll Decimators, bring Bombers with Cluster Missiles. Eats em' alive.

Well, the tournament has come and gone. I placed 7th out of 10, down from 4th in my last tournament which took place BD (before Decimators). I played three rounds, and had to face Decimators in the first two. I actually won the second, mainly because my opponent forgot to decloak his Phantom at a crucial point and he flew his Deci into an asteroid on the same turn. The tournament was also won by a Decimator squad and I've a feeling that, in future, EU ships are going to dominate. Each new wave is likely to yield an all-but-unbeatable ship, and being on a low income I can't afford to keep buying ships just to win games. So, no more tournaments for me. I'll stick to friendlies where you can focus on handling your ships well and enjoying the game.

Decimators are not Falcons, they fall like a ton of bricks.

Fly them yourself to learn their dial, or fly against them - a lot - and you will find that they are not hard to take down.

Unlike the Falcon.

Each new wave is likely to yield an all-but-unbeatable ship, and being on a low income I can't afford to keep buying ships just to win games. So, no more tournaments for me. I'll stick to friendlies where you can focus on handling your ships well and enjoying the game.

I think this attitude has doomed you to failure. 'Oh they are buying the new omega ships, I can't win' is a foolish opinion to have since there are no omega ships in this game. Decimators take literally every hit you put on them, so fly into range 1, shoot it with a million dice and tank a hit or two then once it's dead in 2 turns clean up the escort. They're good ships, but there's not even any crazy damage mitigation going, they just burn down like a paper bag under concentrated fire.

I think this attitude has doomed you to failure. 'Oh they are buying the new omega ships, I can't win' is a foolish opinion to have since there are no omega ships in this game. Decimators take literally every hit you put on them, so fly into range 1, shoot it with a million dice and tank a hit or two then once it's dead in 2 turns clean up the escort. They're good ships, but there's not even any crazy damage mitigation going, they just burn down like a paper bag under concentrated fire.

It's not easy surviving at range 1 of a Deci, especially not if it's RAC. 4 red dice with rerolls and often Gunner or Vader following up will take down an arc-dodger like Fel in a heartbeat.

If you think Fel and Whisper can take out out a Fecivader build you have either never played against it or played someone who didnt know how to play it.

General consensus against Decimators is to get behind at range 3 and pelt with secondary weapons.Defenders work well, so does Dash. The running theme is an HLC and 3+ Def dice at range 3, so that would also include Firesprays and Aggressors.

If you think Fel and Whisper can take out out a Fecivader build you have either never played against it or played someone who didnt know how to play it.

I guess you've never heard of shield upgrade?

Fel, Turr & Whisper will have a hard time against a Fel + Chiraneau list if Vader is in there, but there are ways to beat it (primarily list changes---also, Chiraneau has to die fast, so don't waste time killing Fel other than to 'scare' him away with your whisper).